Wide shoulders make your waist look smaller and give you a better “V shape” that we all want.

If your shoulders are under developed your entire physique gets thrown off. The problem is that most guys suffer from horribly underdeveloped shoulders and never properly hit them.

My promise to you: When you follow the advice in this article your shoulders will blow up. Working shoulders might even become one of your favorite days. When you follow the routine at the end, your shoulders will have a pump unlike anything you’ve ever felt before.

The 3 Secrets To Building Big Shoulders…

1) Work All 3 Heads Of Your Shoulder

Most shoulder workouts consist of doing some for of presses, move into some lackluster dumbbell raises, and usually end there. There’s no real understanding of how or what creates a true “boulder shoulder”. Let me explain…

Look at those weights. Those are not “heavy ass weights”. So many guys who have built amazing physiques have utilized light weight, high rep shoulder work.

Do you think Arnold did a quick and easy few reps with that? Hell no.

We both know he pumped until it hurt like hell and kept on going…

Light weight doesn’t have to be “easy” if you utilize your muscle properly.

I guarantee you mixing in this high volume work will have a phenomenal result on your shoulders.

The Perfect Shoulder Workout Routine…

I’m going to give you the shoulder workout that I personally use and blew my shoulders up with. Try this and I guarantee you’ll love it. You will never go back to your old shoulder routine.

WARM UP: Grab some bands and warm up your shoulders. Do some stretches and get them moving. If you’re doing overhead presses, use the bar for a set or a light set with dumbbells.

REST TIMES: For the presses, rest 1-2 minutes per set. For the rest of the workout try to keep your rest times between 30 seconds to a minute. Don’t be lazy. Work them like hell and feel the pump.

Shoulder Press (Bar Or Dumbbell ) – 4 Sets of 8 Reps

Barbell Upright Rows(Traps/Front/Middle Delt) – 4 sets of 10-12 reps

Dumbbell Lateral Raises (Middle Delt) – 4 sets of 12-14 reps

Dumbbell Front Raises (Front Delt) – 4 sets of 12-14 reps

Dumbbell Rear Raises (Real Delt) – 4 sets of 12-14 reps

Follow that workout to a tee next time you work shoulders and feel what I’m talking about.

Don’t just believe me because I say it’s true.

Go try it and see what I mean. You will feel your shoulders unlike anything else you’ve ever done.

Keep following this routine and you willliterally see the proof. Your shoulders will start growing, you’ll get that “boulder shoulder” look, and you’ll probably end up loving shoulders as much as you love Chest and Bi’s 😀

This doesn’t stop so many BS “gurus” from writing and acting like their methods are the absolute and only truth.

What’s worse is a lot of this bullshit information around the internet stems from scientific studies that people treat as fact.

When so much bodybuilding advice is based off of flawed studies, there is no surprise when you see the lack of results most people get in the gym.

People love to feel secure by reading the numbers, statistics, percentages, etc. but it is all bullshit.

In this post, I will teach you why these medical studies, articles you read on the internet (yes, even mine!), and other information are completely useless for you… unless you learn how to conduct your OWN study (which I’ll show you how to do).

Not EVERYONE In These Studies Gets Results…

When you look at a medical study – not that not everyone gets results.

The final conclusion might be that “protein powder adds muscle mass”, but not everyone saw results from the supplement.

What if YOU are different?

We are all different. What if your training methods are based off of something that works for someone else, but not for you? What a waste of time!

Pharmaceutical giant Bayer tried to replicate 67 famously published studies. Only 20.9% were able to be completely replicated, and a whopping 64.2% unable to be replicated. The others either being deemed “partially” replicated, or not applicable.

What About All The Other Ingredients In These “Proprietary Blends”?

Hate to break it to you, but most of the other ingredients are complete filler.

There are some commonly added ingredients that provide long term benefits, but not necessarily “pre workout” boosts. The closest being L-Arginine but I’ve never noticed a big difference when using it.

The “Preworkout”

Creatine

By saturating the amount of creatine in your system over time you will reap it’s benefits. Better recovery, water retention increasing muscle size, more strength, etc. While the results are not phenomenal (creatine isn’t a steroid), they are worth noting.

Beta-Alanine

This is the cause of the preworkout tingles you’ve probably felt before. Like creatine, Beta-Alanine’s benefits are seen from saturating your muscles over time. This makes the “preworkout” part of it pretty much useless aside from the tingles!

L-Arginine

This amino acid helps your body synthesize NO (nitric oxide) as made famous by certain preworkout drinks. Again, I’ve tried dosing it and never seen phenomenal result so I stick with caffeine.

The benefits of adding these other ingredients to your preworkout are convenience and furthered placebo effect…

Look, I know it sounds like BS that plain old caffeine will get you the boost you need, but it will.

You can find preworkout recipes online and they call for the ingredients listed above, but they will most likely not make a difference for you whatsoever. I invite you like always to test it out yourself, but for most there will be no measurable effect.

The big benefit to adding things such as creatine, glutamine, BCAA’s, beta-alanine, etc. to your preworkout is conveniently being able to take many supplements at one time.

The Ultimate Preworkout…

At the end of the day, the ultimate preworkout supplement is the one that you enjoy taking, get results from, and safely use.

I’ve picked apart several ingredients and found that caffeine is the best for me. No filler, it’s cheap, and it provides the entire “rush” I feel from any preworkout I’ve ever taken (aside from the beta-alanine tingles).

You’ll more than likely have the same results and save a ton of money on ridiculous powders 🙂

Most Guys Cannot Grow Their Chests!

You hit your chest from several angles. Incline, flat, decline, but for some reason…

It just won’t grow!

Trust me, I’ve been there myself going from barely being able to bench with two 25’s on, to pushing the 110lb dumbbells for chest presses.

My strength would go up every week. I was always making progress. But my damn chest was flatter than a pancake.

In this article, I’m going to explain to you why your chest isn’t growing, and how to make it grow like a weed…

The Problem With Chest Development…

Let’s talk about the big problem first.

Think of the bench press….

Ever noticed that some super skinny kids at the gym can throw around decent weight… yet remain flat chested?

How many skinny dudes do you see in the gym smashing out benches of 225lbs+ no problem?

How many skinny dudes with no chests do you see picking up 100lb dumbbells and chest pressing them?

There are a lot of strong guys who stay small and do not grow muscle.

The problem here lies in the correlation between strength and size.

There is a relation between the two, that’s very obvious.

Where most bodybuilders get caught up is thinking that more is better when it comes to increasing their strength and adding more weight to the bench press.

If you want to be a powerlifter – great!

If you want a big strong chest that drops jaws – listen up and pay attention!

When your only focus is adding more and more weight, you will likely reach a point where your chest itself (more on that later) can no longer take the majority of the load, and your other muscles will kick in to help.

When the weight gets too heavy, your shoulders, triceps, and chest all kick in to help press the weight.

I know, I know, it’s fun to smash around heavy weight. It feels good. It strokes your ego.

There is a time and place for heavy lifting, but if you want to grow your chest you need to put your ego aside and make some changes.

How To Properly Work Your Chest

People always talk about how wicked their pumps are at the gym.

Do you notice that they are almost always exclusively referring to their biceps?

Why don’t more guys brag about the insane chest pump they got from their workout?

You guessed right – they are hardly working their pectoral muscles properly!

When I switched up my routine, dropped the weight significantly, and started performing the exercises I’ll share below, my chest started to finally grow.

Get A Proper Squeeze…

You’ve probably heard dudes around the gym talk about “making sure you squeeze”.

This is making sure that you are properly utilizing the muscle that you are trying to hit.

The problem with chest (benching and dumbbells in particular) is that most dudes have no idea how to properly fire their chest muscles and drive through their chest.

Frank Zane, one of the many pro bodybuilders who were big on the mind muscle connection.

Next time you bench, before you add any weight try this…

With only the bar, perform your bench press and focus all of your energy on only using your chest muscles as best as possible.

Feel your chest doing the work and when you reach the top of the rep, fire your chest muscles and give them a good squeeze.

It should only take a handful of reps before you can get a really good burn going in the chest.

Now you’re using your muscles properly!

Most guys realize instantly and have a huge “a-ha! moment” that they have been benching wrong.

You can even try this right now by putting your arms out in front of you, hands together, and squeezing and flexing your chest as hard as you can. Feel the burn? That’s what you want when exercising your chest.

This is commonly referred to as a “mind-muscle” connection and a lot of seriously accomplished bodybuilders place great importance on the connection. One of these being Frank Zane – one of the most aesthetic humans to have ever walked this earth.

Make sure you get a proper squeeze and are properly firing and activating your pecs while training chest.

Hit It With More Volume & Rest Less…

Another tip that exploded my chest was to hit it with more volume.

Most dudes are lifting way too heavy, resting way too long, and not properly activating the muscle.

This is a trifecta of bullshit if you’re trying to grow a big chest.

Drop the weights, perform more reps, more sets, and keep your rest times no longer than a minute or a minute and a half.

If you’re worried about lower weight not being able to grow muscle, go read the last half of my Rich Piana Feeder Workout article for an explanation.

I guarantee your growth will be massive and your pumps will be unlike anything you’ve ever felt before.

Perform Exercises That Better Isolate The Chest…

When you think of chest exercises, what comes to mind are the typical ones.

Bench press, incline bench press, decline bench press, dumbbells for all the same variations, and maybe the odd isolation exercise such as flyes, cable crossovers, etc.

I’ve found that these majority of exercises people perform for chest are incredibly easy to mess up by using too much tricep and shoulder.

Add these exercises into your next chest workout to properly isolate the chest and make it grow. You can click each exercise for an explanation video. You will see how these are very hard to use any muscle except your chest when using proper form.

Flat Dumbbell Flyes

Incline Dumbbell Flyes

Chest Pullovers

Cable Crossovers

Wide Grip Bench Press (Moderate Weight)

Wide Grip Incline Bench Press (Moderate Weight)

Take my advice from this article, put your ego aside, learn to properly fire and activate your chest, and I guarantee it will grow like crazy. Until next time!

You will perform each exercise for the allotted amount of reps and sets.

You will rest only 1 minute in between each set. This is going to make it an intense fat burning workout.

Combined with the high reps you will get unreal pumps and your physique will love you.

If you are confused about any of the exercises, just click the exercise name and an instructional video will open in Youtube.

1) Arms

We are going to be working out arms on the same day. This will be the biceps and the triceps together for workout number one. We will focus on good squeezes, really utilizing the muscle and obtaining a full pump. Make sure to isolate the muscle and exercise strict form. It will hurt. That’s the goal!

Supersetting: We will be supersetting our bicep and tricep exercises. This means you will perform one and immediately move into the next exercise. Once you have finished the supersetted exercise, you will begin your rest.

2) Chest/Back

We are going to be hitting chest and back in the same day. Your goal is to get a good squeeze. FEEL your muscles contracting under the weight. This is especially important with your chest. Make sure you are actually lifting the weight with your chest.

Back is by far the most challenging (and least utilized) muscle group when it comes to dumbbell workouts. Following this routine you should be able to get a good pump and work your lats hard.

With your rows, make sure to let your lats fully stretch out for a full range of motion.

NOTE: If you have access to a chinup bar I highly recommend throwing in a few sets of pullups until failure. If not, you will still be able to hit your back but chinups do wonders for lats.

Shoulders/Legs

Our last workout is shoulders and legs. With legs, you will not have heavy enough weight to hit them hard but you can still rep out like always and get a good pump. Make them burn, stick to the rep ranges and lower rest times and you’ll still be able to effectively hit them.

Our goal with shoulders is to isolate each head of the shoulder with higher rep work and really get a good pump. Exercise strict form on each lift and make sure you rep them out. Your dumbbells should be light enough to reach these rep ranges with no problems.

Want to add quality muscle mass?
When most guys bulk they just end up getting fat.

For most, bulking is synonymous with eating a ton of garbage food.

This results in a dirty bulk where you end up packing on the fat, but not nearly as much muscle mass as you’d hope.

If you’re trying to add quality muscle mass, you don’t have to eat 100% clean. You also don’t have to eat like a pig and go crazy on the junk.

Like everything, the key is finding a sustainable middle ground where you can consistently get results.

Ultimately it boils down to your macro nutrient intake, but certain foods allow you to hit your required protein/carb/fat intake easier without consuming too many calories.

You can play the IIFYM (if it fits your macros) game and count every macronutrient, or you can eat foods that you inherently know are loaded with protein, lower calorie choices, and naturally move your physique towards your goals.

Here’s a list of the top foods that are easy to prepare and allow you to add CLEAN gains that you can actually keep.

1. Eggs

What is the ultimate clean protein source? You can ask any bodybuilder and the answer will be the same. Eggs are an unbeatable source of protein, amino acids, healthy fats, vitamins and other nutrients for your body.

Making things even better, eggs are stupidly cheap and so easy to cook.

If you are trying to add mass, do not remove the yolk from your eggs!

This is fine when cutting, but removing the yolk removes fat, choline, and about half of the egg’s protein.

Egg yolks alone will not make you fat and provide crucial resources for your body when bulking.

3. Chicken Breast

Chicken breast is hailed by health fanatics all over the world. There’s no surprise that boneless skinless chicken breast is a bodybuilder’s best friend due to the insanely high protein concentration and overall low calorie count.

A standard 4 oz chicken breast (pretty much the size of an iPhone) has about 25g of protein and only 140 calories.

You can see how it’s pretty hard to get fat when eating chicken breast as a staple of your diet.

A huge mistake bodybuilders make is eating chicken that tastes completely awful.

You don’t have to eat dry, overcooked “struggle chicken” as Kevin from FitMenCook calls it. Perfect name because if you’ve ever tried eating 3 day old meal-prepped struggle chicken you know exactly why it’s named that!

Check out this video for a super easy way to meal prep your chicken to eat without the internal struggle.

4. Tilapia

On the same topic as chicken breast, lean fish such as Tilapia is packed with protein.

An average fillet of tilapia only has about 112 calories and 23g of protein making it another food that you can pack into your diet without having to worry about adding that fluffy squishy bulking fat. Only quality gains, thanks!

Men are expected to live to 80, women to 87. Not bad for a country that eats radioactive, mercury ridden fish!

In case my argument wasn’t enough, the NRDC mercury guide has Tilapia on the lowest level of mercury, with a cute little “enjoy these fish” message. Now go eat some Tilapia haters!

5. High Protein Dairy

If you try looking around whether or not milk is good when bulking you’ll probably get confused.

The legendary Arnold Schwarzenegger has been misquoted all over the internet for saying “milk is for babies”.

Internet geniuses forget to leave out, he adds a tongue in cheek comment saying “real men drink beer!” immediately after thus making you wonder JUST how serious he was being.

While I personally don’t find that adding milk in my diet helps me reach my daily requirements (mainly too high in sugar, not enough protein per calories), there are some great high protein dairy sources.

6) Greek Yoghurt

Greek yoghurt makes for a badass source of a protein – only if you buy the right kind.

Like most food in today’s sugar addicted age, most brands are absolutely loaded with added sugar making it a horrible choice for you if you’re looking to stay lean.

Take a look at the nutrition labels and make sure yours doesn’t have a ton of sugar.

If you go for the 0% fat you will get more protein. It doesn’t taste nearly as good, but nutritionally it makes much better decision. You can add all kinds of good stuff to your greek yoghurt like oatmeal, fruit, honey, etc. so long as you stay within your daily requirements like always.

7) Cottage Cheese

Cottage cheese is another awesome high protein dairy source. I like to have it with my chicken or with steak.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: If you don’t like cottage cheese, don’t eat it. So many people make horrible non-sustainable diet decisions when trying to build their bodies. Just because it’s on this list doesn’t make it an absolute. If you hate it, find another way to get your protein in.

Cottage cheese is mainly made up of casein protein, one of the different types of protein. Due to its gelatinous nature it’s a slow digesting protein. You will find many people online recommending to eat it at night. I don’t.

Like I say – it’s all preference. Find what works for you because that’s the only way to tell.

8) Whey Protein

I purposely left whey protein (the main protein shake everyone drinks) for last.

Does it mean it’s not important?

No.

I used to slam protein shakes like no tomorrow, but now I feel like real food produces better results.

Too many shakes made me bloated, gassy, and constipated. When I eat real food I feel way better.

For most people I think protein shakes are an excuse to be lazy and avoid cooking and eating real food.

I’m not saying not to drink shakes. If you can manage to gain mass while slamming shakes – go for it!

Shakes should be used what they’re meant for which is to supplement extra protein. The keyword being extra, implying you’re already getting protein from another source such as real food.

9. Healthy Fats
(Avocado / Almonds / Oil)

Fat gets a horribly bad rap.

First things first, dietary fat does NOT make you fat.

People hear the name and get all freaked out. Junk food companies want you to think that “no fat” or “low fat” is a benefit and means it will not make you fat.

Healthy fats such as olive oil, coconut oil, almonds, fatty fish (salmon), avocado are all very important for your body to function and to build muscle.

There is also evidence showing that healthy dietary fat increases your testosterone levels, allowing you to more easily build muscle. Don’t be afraid to eat healthy dietary fat. Get educated and make a decision for your own body.

In conclusion…

I know it’s only the 317th time I’ve mentioned it, but no food alone will make you fat.

It all breaks down to your overall calorie intake/expenditure as well as the macro nutrient composition of your food.

This is a list of what I have found to be some foods that allow me to easily get my protein intake and I think you’ll be able to benefit a lot from trying it. Like always, try it out, measure your results to guarantee your success, and make your own decision!

How many times have you heard the concept of having to bulk first, and then cut in order to look good?

On paper it makes sense – you eat big, lift big, get big. You become a raw powerhouse during the bulking phase and shed the fat during your cut.

The reality?

Most dudes end up looking like the Michelin Man during their “bulking phase”.

Look, I’m not making this up. You look around the internet and you’ll see plenty of guys bragging about their “dirty bulk” and how they’ll “get shredded in summer” (which they never do).

I’m also not telling you this acting like I’ve never done it. I’ve been there myself multiple times.

I first used this method to bulk up from being 6’3 160 lbs to 206 lbs in about a years time.

The problem was that I turned into a chubby marshmallow, not the Arnold Schwarzenegger lookalike I was hoping for.

My diet consisted of endless amounts of pizza, Mcdonald’s dollar menu items, and pretty much any other high calorie food you could imagine.

You Need To Stop Chasing Numbers On The Scale…

Literally all I cared about was if that number on the scale was going up. As long as I weighed more than I did last time I was happy.

Weight means absolutely nothing. Pictured below is me at 206 lbs on the Michelin Man diet, compared to me at around 187 lbs on the “I want to look good” diet.

See the difference? I ACTUALLY thought I looked good and was getting “jacked” in the left picture. Even though I was nearly 20 lbs lighter in the right picture I looked way better. My arms and legs even measured bigger.

This is proof of just how deceiving the scale can be.

If you want to look good, the answer is not just shoving whatever shitty food you can down your throat, and justifying it with the excuse of “bulking”.

And that’s exactly what it is. An excuse.

It’s an excuse to be lazy. An excuse to eat like shit. An excuse to look like shit.

It’s easy to believe that eating another piece of pizza is actually healthy for you when you’re buying into the bulking lie.

Let The Mirror Do The Talking…

If you celebrate when looking at your gains on the scale, but feel like shit when you look in the mirror you’ve got a problem.

The mirror doesn’t lie. The scale does.

Don’t forget why you are working out in the first place. I bet it’s one of two reasons.

Be healthy. Look awesome.

Eating garbage food with zero regard for your health accomplishes neither of these goals, yet for some reason it’s the go-to strategy for younger guys looking to gain muscle.

Ok, So How Do I Bulk Properly Then?

“Jon, you’re sitting here making me feel bad for eating all of this pizza, but what do you propose is the right way to bulk then?”

Want the simple answer?

Eat real food. Lots of it.

Food like eggs, steak, beef, chicken, fish, rice, vegetables…

You know this already. It’s not a secret. There really are no secrets in the bodybuilding world.

You more than likely understand the basics of diet and you don’t need me to break down the importance of protein, carbs, fats, etc…

You need to get honest and just start eating real food.

Does it come prepackaged? Is it loaded with sugar? Do you order it through a drive through? Does it come in a square box covered in cheese and pepperoni?

NOT real food.

I’ll be honest – you can also get fat eating these foods. It’s a LOT harder to do it though.

You’ve probably heard of the dieting concept of “If It Fits Your Macros”.

If not, the kindergarten explanation is that your body requires a certain number of calories and macronutrients in order to sustain itself.

If you go over on calories, you gain weight. If you’re under, you lose weight. You build or lose muscle depending on your macronutrient intake.

This means that you can eat pretty much whatever you want (so long as it fits your daily limits) and still reach your fitness goals.

Sounds like a pretty sweet deal right?

It is. If you have insane discipline and incredibly strong willpower.

If you’re able to eat every single meal, counting every single calorie and macronutrient then it works.

The problem is that, again, it becomes an excuse to eat junk and be lazy.

I focus on living my life and enjoying it – not spending so much of my precious time counting calories.

Let me be crystal clear on that. I enjoy life. I recommend you do the same.

I’m not saying to never again eat these foods. Just don’t shovel them down your throat while lying to yourself about the reality.